Toronto coach Pat Quinn has been pretty screwed lately. So he's probably tried just about every line combination there is (in fact, I'm surprised we haven't seen Eddie Belfour as a forward).
Well he put Alexander Mogilny and Maple Thug Tie Domi together and it worked pretty well.
This is what's so annoying about the Leafs. Domi's been with them since 1995 (most recently) and they're just now figuring out that 1) Domi might thrive on extra ice and 2) He can do something besides assault opposing players.
It's not like Quinn is so smart for figuring this new line out. It's more like he should have put it together years ago. And it's even more like the team shouldn't have been built on cheap shots and bullying. But most of all, it just makes you wonder if the Leafs would have a recent Stanley Cup if Quinn wasn't so hung up on flooding the Air Canada Centre with blood and teeth.
And for more Leaf news, check out Chris Corrigan's Maple Leaf blog. Blogging the Leafs is truly a labor of love. But Chris's blog is comprehensive. It's very impressive.

Newsday has some interesting Islander trade rumors — some stuff I haven't heard before.
According to Newsday, the once-again wretched Isles are scouting Avalanchite Alex Tanguay, using Brad Isbister as bait. Not a crazy deal when you consider Colorado is all about bad trades this season.
Another rumor has Panther Valeri Bure for Dave Scatchard. I'm convinced the Isles or Devils will end up with Bure since he probably wants to be close to his brother, Ranger Pavel Bure.
Both of these trades are designed to provide line-mates for Aleksei Yashin, Long Island's franchise center.
Yashin seems like a nice guy, but if he couldn't have any kind of smashing success with any of the people he's played with, maybe the problem isn't with the wingers. Maybe the problem is with Yashin. He's got talent but no drive. That's why he disappears during playoffs. It's not the kind of problem even a great wing can solve.

Defense met defense and defense won.
In other words, New Jersey was able to hold off red-hot Philadelphia, 1-0.
You really have to wonder what the Cup finals will be like this year, and in the following years. The Eastern Conference is more and more smothering defense and the West is still pretty open and offensive. Do Eastern teams even know what to do when an opposing teams moves the puck and shoots a lot? I think we're all learning that there are a million different ways to slow a game without resorting to obstruction.
It seems like a bunch of teams, like the Devils, are winning battles (battles being regular season games) but won't be able to win the war (the war being the Cup). I still think Pat Burns is doing the best he can with what he has in New Jersey. I just wonder if he's setting his team up for ultimate failure.

The Calgary streaker says he ran naked onto the ice because he needed money to buy text books. He obviously needed some kind of instructional book if he didn't know ice was slippery.

Friday marks Eddie Belfour's return to Dallas, his ex-wife as it were.
According to Dallas Morning News columnist Chuck Carlton, Star fans should be happy he's visiting, but glad he's not staying.
Belfour is certainly struggling in Toronto, but it's not all his fault. But it has been a long time since he's been in true "Eagle" form. Right now I rate him at sick hawk or maybe even an owl.
Also, pity current Dallas goalie Marty Turco, who sits the game after every bad performance. The Morning News calls it tough love. I'm not sure that's how Turco sees it.

Speaking of trouble on home ice (see below), Colorado can't buy a win. They haven't won their last six at the Pepsi Arena. Just to put things in perspective, they've only played six games at the Pepsi Arena this season.
The winless streak has to be related to those weird ass lights that run around their home ice. It's as cringe-inducing as Japanese animation.
Another thing that isn't helping is Patrick Roy's bum hip. He had to sit out his second consecutive game. Colorado is saying that this isn't a big deal, but Roy is 37. My great-grandma didn't have trouble with her hip until her 80s. So he's already way ahead of old-person schedule.

I didn't know the Blackhawks were so dominant in Detroit. The Blackhawks haven't lost there since April 2, 1999. I know this is the part where one might expect an explanation of sorts from me, but I really have no idea. I'm just reporting this, really.

Noticed you have more time on your hands? It's not your imagination. NHL games are moving quicker. They're about 16 minutes quicker than last year. They'll probably even get a little quicker as teams adjust to the new obstruction rules or the officials stop calling obstruction.

So it turns out that hockey is more than ice and rubber. It's also got physics.
At least according to the new book THE PHYSICS OF HOCKEY.
It looks like it has a lot of interesting stuff in it. For instance, according to Alain Haché, the author of the book, most winless streaks are random events (although I guess it's less random for bad teams).
Haché also reports that the more times a team loses in a row, the greater the chance they'll win the next game. I'm sure the Atlanta Thrashers were glad to read that. And I guess it's comforting to know that a team can't lose forever.
So I guess science is fun.

Colorado must be kicking themselves for letting Chris Drury go. He's scored the game-winning goal two nights in a row. The most recent one was against the Devils as the Flames beat Jersey 3-2.
Not to take anything from Drury, but Martin Brodeur has played in every game of the season. His backup doesn't even remember how to skate anymore. Brodeur is due for a break. Isn't there some kind of goalie union?

I'm loving this season. Toronto beats Tampa Bay and it's a big deal. Who woulda thunk it?
Alexander Mogilny got a hat trick as the Leafs beat the Lightning 4-3.
The hat trick is good news for Mogilny. He's now a fifth of the way to last year's season goal total. When is Mogilny going to warm up in Toronto? And why is he so streaky anyway?

Vancouver is undefeated on the road. Colorado is winless at home.
Both streaks are still safe. Vancouver beat Colorado 4-2 last night.
Vancouver had some help, though. Patrick Roy is out with a bum hip. It doesn't need to be said (but I'll say it anyway): Colorado is behind the 8-ball without Roy in the net. They just don't have the offense to support any less of a goalie.

Here is everything you ever wanted to know about hockey sticks. It also includes this unfortunate line: "[Sami] Salo likes a stiff shaft."
Get your minds out of the gutter!

I think one of the few good things about living in New York City are the newspapers. Eric Lindos' benching and penalty troubles have been fodder for the papers.
The Times has been kind of subdued (as one might expect), writing things like "The penalty yesterday, for high-sticking Barret Jackman near the Rangers' bench, looked like a borderline call, a fairly routine check delivered slightly after the puck left the area of Jackman and Lindros at 5 minutes 52 seconds of the third period." The more excitable New York Post has been writing things like "The double standard is alive and well, applied against Eric Lindros by both NHL referees and his own coach."
Of course because modern sports is practically corporate, the controversy is already winding down. Ranger coach Bryan Trottier scrimmaged with Lindros as a line-mate yesterday. The Islander legend scored two goals, which makes me think he should be playing, not coaching. The Rangers need all the help they can get (although they did call up some vets and send down some rookies, including the very promising Jamie Lundmark).

I got an e-mail yesterday. Here it is:

Hey there Steve. In case you care, Hedberg didn't get "hyponotized" over the summer. He went to a psychologist for a few sessions b/c of the incident with Martin Straka and b/c he needed to "clear his head" in order to have a better and more productive season. (Which, if you've noticed, has worked.) Try getting you stories straight before you publish then (sic), ok?

I found several sources confirming Hedberg did in fact undergo hypnosis last summer.
This is from the October 20 Pittsburgh Post-Gazette:

"No big deal? Spoken like someone who underwent hypnosis this summer, which Hedberg did, in part, to control his temper in games. Last season, he cracked countless sticks over the cross bar in frustration."

This is from a September 3 Toronto Star article headlined "Penguins' Hedberg hits couch for hypnosis":

Johan Hedberg may be ahead of the times or he may simply be a head case, but the Pittsburgh Penguin this off-season has dared to go where no goaltender has gone before — to a hypnotist.

"That's been the best thing about what I've done this summer," the goalie tells the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette from his home in Sweden, "going deep, deep like this to find things out. I've found out there are so many battles you can win in your head."

And just to be extra anal, this is from an AP Worldstream story headlined "Penguins' Hedberg turns to hypnotism to improve game":

Still smarting from a late-season collapse, Pittsburgh Penguins goaltender Johan Hedberg has turned to a hypnotist to improve the mental part of his game.

Hedberg, 29, has had two sessions with a sports psychologist in his native Sweden in the past month, and will have one more on Thursday before leaving Sunday for Pittsburgh, where training camp begins Sept. 12. Each two-hour session includes 30 minutes of hypnosis.

Maybe hypnotism does work. Over the summer, Penguin goalie Johan Hedberg got hypnotized to try and calm his nerves. After all, no one likes a nervous cop or a nervous goalie.
Now he's got a save percentage of .913 and just one loss in seven starts. He even plays without a stick sometimes (third item). GoalieMania puts him in the top third of NHL netminders.
The Penguins in general are really starting to click in general. Kent Manderville scored the game-winner against Tampa Bay Saturday. When checkers start stepping up like that, it's usually a good sign that a team is really getting used to winning.
Just think how crazy things will be when Marty Straka returns to the line-up, as it's said he will Wednesday. Things are clicking so well, the Penguins don't even have an obvious spot for the accident-prone winger. But I'm sure they'll find something for him and his 70-point/season average.
I never expected Pittsburgh to be playing this well. But if you look at the Penguins and squint your eyes just the right way, it looks like it's 1992 over there.

Islander coach Peter Laviolette and injured captain Michael Peca did the most shocking thing they could think of, trying to jolt the ailing team into any kind of success.
Peca came back from his busted knee a month early to skate just one shift (27 seconds for number 27).
It wasn't enough to shake the Isles out of the doldrums.
That's it. If that didn't wake the team up, nothing will. The only thing more shocking would be if they somehow got Bryan Trottier in for a shift.
The Isles haven't changed much since last season, personnel wise. There's just no reason for them to be this bad.
The Isles are out of surprises. Maybe they should just start suiting up fans.

Here is a look at the Hockey Hall of Fame's class of 2003.
No problems with any of these guys. Although I do feel it needs to be mentioned that Philadelphia basically fired Roger Neilson, entering the Hall this year, for getting cancer.
Pure class over there in Philly.